USS Bausell (DD-845) was a destroyer in the United States Navy during the Korean War and the Vietnam War. She was named for Marine Corporal Lewis K. Bausell (1924–1944), who was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for "conspicuous gallantry" during the Battle of Peleliu.
Post World War II
Bausell was laid down on 28 May 1945 at Bath, Maine, by the Bath Iron Works; launched on 19 November 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Lawrence K. Bausell, Corporal Bausell's mother. She was commissioned at Boston, Massachusetts on 7 February 1946.
After a month fitting out at the Boston Naval Shipyard, the destroyer conducted an eight-week shakedown and training cruise to the West Indies. Returning to Boston on 4 June, the warship underwent four weeks of post-shakedown repairs before sailing for duty with the Pacific Fleet on 5 July. Passing through the Panama Canal soon thereafter, she arrived at her new homeport of San Diego, California on the 23d.
Bausell, although immobilized in port owing to crew shortages, joined Destroyer Division 12 (DesDiv 12) on 30 November. When enough crewmembers became available in January 1947, she began a more active period of local operations out of San Diego. The destroyer participated in fleet exercises held in the Hawaiian Islands in late February; and, in early March, she assisted in a fruitless search for survivors of the foundered merchantman Fort Dearborn. Ordered to Pearl Harbor on 8 July, she conducted reserve training duty in that port until sailing for Bremerton, Washington, on 1 October. Upon arrival, the destroyer underwent a four-month modernization overhaul.
Bausell returned to San Diego in late February 1948 and prepared for her first Far East cruise. Departing San Diego on 9 March, the warship first steamed to Pearl Harbor for two weeks of antisubmarine (ASW) exercises. Late that month, she got underway for China, arriving at Tsingtao on 15 April. For the next six months, the destroyer ranged the length and breadth of the Yellow Sea, escorting American shipping in the region, until the Chinese government closed the mainland ports to American warships. She returned to San Diego on 26 November.
For the next year, Bausell conducted local operations out of San Diego with DesDiv 12. These continued until 11 November 1949, when she again sailed for the western Pacific. Arriving at Subic Bay on 30 November, Bausell remained in Philippine waters through the end of the year. On 7 January 1950 she set course for the Chinese coast to assist SS Flying Arrow, a merchant ship that had been damaged by gunfire from a Chinese ship and was anchored off the Yangtze estuary. On 10 January, in company with and , the destroyer shielded the merchant ship. Bausell then conducted surveillance operations off the Yangtze estuary, outside Tsingtao, and near the Barren Islands, returning to Subic Bay on 27 January.
Korean War
The destroyer conducted patrols in Philippine and Japanese waters before setting out for the west coast on 20 May. After a leisurely voyage during which she stopped at Guam and Pearl Harbor, Bausell arrived in San Diego on 13 June. She spent the three months after her return engaged in local operations and then entered Mare Island Naval Shipyard for an eight-week overhaul. On 19 February 1951, the destroyer sailed for Korean waters in company with two other DesDiv 12 ships, and .
The warship made Sasebo, Japan, on 18 March and, three days later, joined Task Force 77 (TF 77) off the east coast of Korea. Operating with during this tour, Bausell patrolled the Songjin–Wonsan area for North Korean small craft and conducted shore bombardment missions from 24 to 28 April. Reassigned to the Taiwan Strait Patrol, a presence established in June 1950 to discourage the two Chinese governments from widening the war, the destroyer cruised near the Pescadores Islands from 11 June to 18 July. Returning to Korean waters on 7 August, she engaged in five more weeks of patrol operations before sailing for San Diego on 16 September.
Bausell spent the next seven months conducting local operations, practicing her gunnery, and training new crew members. Underway for Korean waters on 20 May 1952, the destroyer returned to patrol operations with TF 77 off the east coast of Korea. She conducted naval gunfire support as needed, engaging in gunnery duels with shore batteries four times over the course of the summer. On occasion, the warship also screened carrier task forces and carried out planeguard duties in their area of activity. Her tour of duty over, she set course for San Diego early in December, arriving there on the 20th.
On 29 January 1953, Bausell commenced a six-month overhaul at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. After the repairs were finished in July, the destroyer spent two months conducting refresher training in preparation for her fifth Far East deployment. Departing San Diego on 8 September, she returned to Korean waters and helped other 7th Fleet units monitor the s:Korean Armistice Agreement on the peninsula. Bausell steamed off Korea and Taiwan for six months, putting into such ports as Yokosuka, Pusan, and Keelung infrequently for upkeep and repair. Relieved in late March 1954, she returned to San Diego on 16 April.
The warship made her sixth western Pacific cruise between November 1954 and April 1955. Although initially operating out of Subic Bay, Bausell received orders sending her north after Chinese communist aircraft engaged Chinese nationalist shipping at Ichiang, in the Tachen Islands, on 10 January 1955. The destroyer patrolled the surrounding seas for the following three weeks, while diplomats tried to resolve the crisis. In early February, when the decision was made to evacuate the Chinese nationalists from the islands, she stood by in support of that operation. Following a port visit to Hong Kong and a short repair period at Sasebo, the destroyer returned to the United States early in April 1955.
Interwar years
Over the next four years, Bausell deployed to the western Pacific three more times. During these cruises, she conducted ASW exercises with other 7th Fleet units, patrolled the seas off China and Korea, and trained with other navies in Philippine and Australian waters. This pattern of operations came to be fairly characteristic of a Navy warship's tours of duty in the Far East in the period of relative peace between the Korean War Armistice Agreement in 1953 and the intensification of the Vietnam War just over a decade later.
In July 1960, Bausell entered the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard to undergo alterations as part of the Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) program. Devised to counter growing numbers of Soviet submarines, the conversion process armed Bausell with antisubmarine rockets (ASROC) and ASW torpedoes, added helicopter equipment and advanced electronics gear, and improved her radar and sonar capabilities.
After these modifications were completed on 15 July 1961, the warship made a short shakedown cruise to Vancouver, British Columbia, before steaming to San Diego. There, for the next 14 months, she conducted sea trials and weapons exercises to test her new equipment. During the summer of 1962, the destroyer visited Seattle for the World's Fair and participated in the Rose Festival in Portland, Oregon.
On 11 May 1962, Agerholm test fired a nuclear ASROC missile towards Bausell to test its capability to withstand the radioactive "base surge" resulting from the underwater explosion.1962 ASROC Navy Nuclear Tests from USS Agerholm DD826 The entire crew disembarked from the ship prior to the test, leaving behind test instruments. The base surge never reached the ship.
Vietnam War
Bausell sailed for the Far East again in November 1962. There, the destroyer spent six months patrolling in the South China Sea and conducting goodwill visits to Singapore, Djakarta, and Darwin. Returning home on 30 June 1963, she carried out local operations out of San Diego into November. Following an extended maintenance period at the Naval Repair Facility, San Diego, Bausell resumed local operations out of that port on 22 March 1964. These activities, including helicopter qualification trials and weapons exercises, continued through July.
On 5 August, the destroyer sailed for duty in the western Pacific. Bausell soon joined other 7th Fleet forces concentrating in the South China Sea. This provided escort services for the growing numbers of American carriers and amphibious units operating off Vietnam. These patrols continued through the new year until the destroyer returned to San Diego in February 1965.
Over the next 11 months, Bausell kept busy fulfilling training and other commitments stateside. These included night planeguard assignments for aircraft carriers off the California coast, intensified ASW training to cope with the new Soviet submarines operating in the Pacific, and a six-week midshipmen cruise to Tacoma, San Francisco, and Pearl Harbor during the summer.
Owing to widened American participation in combat operations in southeast Asia, Bausell set course for Vietnam on 7 January 1966. Her first assignment in the South China Sea consisted of monitoring the movements of the Russian trawler Protractor and preventing that ship from intercepting Navy tactical communications. In addition to providing planeguard and screening services for the carriers and , she also served as a naval gunfire support (NGFS) ship and on the Tonkin Gulf search and rescue (SAR) station. In March and April, the destroyer fired over 7,000 5-inch rounds at shore targets; and, in company with the destroyer , the warship also rescued four downed pilots. She then visited Subic Bay and several other Far Eastern ports before steaming for home on 27 June.
Upon returning to San Diego, the warship prepared for a regular overhaul at the San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard. Beginning on 23 September, shipyard workers modernized her 5-inch gun mounts, reworked the main engineering plant, and overhauled the sonar, fire-control radar, and electronic counter-measures (ECM) gear. After a successful sea trial on 22 December, Bausell began a series of exercises—including gunnery, shore bombardment, planeguard, and helicopter training—that lasted through April 1967.
The warship departed San Diego on 15 May and arrived at Subic Bay on 12 June after visits to Pearl Harbor, Midway, and Yokosuka. Bausell loaded supplies and ammunition, getting underway for "Yankee Station" on 17 June. There, she provided escort and ASW services to the carriers and until 14 July. After a brief call at Sasebo, the destroyer returned to the Gulf of Tonkin and served with the carrier until 17 August when she was ordered to the gunline off Vietnam. For the next 10 days, Bausell conducted shore-bombardment missions off Đồng Hới, remaining on call into September. On 13 September, she returned to the Gulf of Tonkin for escort duties. Three weeks later, after an ASW exercise with the submarine , she sailed for the west coast, arriving in San Diego on 25 October.
Following 10 months of local operations the warship prepared for her 15th Far Eastern deployment. Departing San Diego on 7 September 1968, Bausell stopped at Yokosuka and Subic Bay, before joining the carrier in the Gulf of Tonkin on 10 October. Four days later, after rendezvous with the cruiser , the vessel conducted a week of naval gunfire missions against North Vietnamese coastal targets. After returning to the carriers in late October, the destroyer conducted planeguard and ASW assignments on "Yankee Station", served on the gunline off Da Nang, and completed four weeks on SAR station with Worden, before steaming out of the combat zone in February 1969. Although she departed Yokosuka for San Diego on 21 February, she made a brief detour to the Ogasawara Islands on 23 February. There, she rescued the crew of a burning Japanese fishing vessel before resuming her voyage home.